Solution Datasheet

Storage Monitoring
by Sentry Software

By extending its already existing hardware monitoring products to

cover not only the servers but also the external storage devices,
Sentry Software offers a unique and comprehensive monitoring
solution for multi-vendor SANs, including disk arrays, fiber switches
and tape libraries.
Storage Monitoring KEY FEATURES
Sentry Software Monitoring for BMC Performance Manager • Monitoring Disk Arrays:
• Detects failures on the disks and controllers
• Monitors the environment (temperature,
BUSINESS CHALLENGE fans, power supplies)
It has been years since the introduction of storage-dedicated networks in IT • Monitors the fiber links (external and
departments. SANs, with disk arrays, fiber switches and dedicated tape libraries internal)
have been put in place to provide advanced storage services to servers and • Reports on all internal performance metrics
applications, to isolate the storage issues from the servers and consolidate the from the physical disk activity to the array
storage needs in one place. With the growing use and deployment of virtual response time
systems and blade servers (with little to no storage capacity), the SAN has • Reports on the available disk space (total and
become a critical piece of the IT architecture and constitutes in many cases a per volume)
single point of failure for many applications. • Reports on the power consumption of the
disk array (in Watts and kWh)
Despite becoming increasingly critical, the monitoring and management of
the SAN and its underlying components are still at the Stone Age: vendor • Monitoring Fiber Switches:
specific consoles, heterogeneous level of information, no integration with • Monitors the environment (temperature,
other monitoring tools, different interfaces, etc. This situation makes the fans, power supplies)
management of multi-vendor SANs quite a challenge to IT departments. • Monitors the fiber links (port, light,
When an application starts performing poorly and happens to rely on a SAN, connection, speed, etc.)
administrators struggle to isolate the performance bottleneck, whether it is • Reports on the utilization of each fiber link
at the level of the server, or a broken multi-path setup, or a broken RAID or a (traffic, total amount of data per hour or
per day, bandwidth utilization) and on the
late backup overloading the fiber link. Sometimes even for simply detecting a
power consumption of the switch (in Watts
failed disk, a broken power supply or a link down, administrators have to deal and kWh)
with a multitude of different tools and interfaces, leading to longer time to
repair and lower uptime. • Monitoring NetApp Filers:
• M
onitors filers as disk arrays (disks,
controllers, ports, environment, power
THE SENTRY SOFTWARE SOLUTION consumption, etc.)
• R
eports on key performance metrics
Sentry Software has taken its popular hardware monitoring solution for BMC (filesystem usage, traffic, replication status,
Performance Manager and extended it to cover not only servers but also shares, protocols utilization, etc.)
storage devices: disk arrays, fiber switches, filers and tape libraries.
• Monitoring Tape Libraries:
Integrated as a native module for BMC Performance Manager (both agent-
• D
etects failures on the tape drives and
based PATROL and agent-less BMC Portal), Sentry Software’s solution monitors robotics
the physical aspects of all SAN components. It reports hardware failures,
• M
onitors the environment (temperature,
monitors key performance metrics and helps you diagnose any availability
fans, power supplies)
issue in the SAN.
• Reports when drive cleaning is needed
Sentry Software’s hardware monitoring products which already supports • R
eports on the tape drives utilization (mount
servers from DELL, IBM, HP, Sun, Fujitsu and NEC now also supports storage count)
devices from EMC, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Brocade, Cisco, LSI, Emulex, QLogic, • R
eports on the power consumption (in Watts
NetApp, StorageTek, Quantum and ADIC. All your servers and storage and kWh)
devices are now monitored in a central place with a unified
interface. No more integration headaches or holes in the
monitoring coverage!

Monitoring an EMC Clariion disk array

Storage Monitoring KEY BENEFITS
Sentry Software Monitoring for BMC Performance Manager • Avoid costly down-times

• Arbitrate servers and storage problems

FEATURED PRODUCTS • Identify performance bottlenecks

• Hardware Sentry KM for PATROL • Rationalize disk space utilization

(agent-based solution for PATROL) • R
educe the meantime to repair SAN-related
issues
• NetApp Filers KM for PATROL
(agent-based solution for PATROL) • N
ative integration with BMC ProactiveNet
Performance Management
• EMC Disk Arrays KM for PATROL
(agent-based solution for PATROL)

• HP EVA KM for PATROL

(agent-based solution for PATROL)

• BMC Performance Manager Express for Hardware

(native agent-less solution for BMC Portal)

• BMC Performance Manager Express for NetApp Filers

(native agent-less solution for BMC Portal)

• BMC Performance Manager Express for EMC Disk Arrays

(native agent-less solution for BMC Portal)

• BMC Performance Manager Express for HP EVA

(native agent-less solution for BMC Portal) The LUN traffic usage feature enables administrators to analyze
how LUNs traffic load is shared across the different LUNs and
establish which LUN is used the most on an hourly/daily basis.

SUPPORTED DEVICES

How data traffic is Disks arrays

shared across the • EMC Symmetrix
different ports of a
SAN switch, in GB • EMC Clariion
per day • HP EVA, HP StorageWorks XP, VA, EMA, MSA
• IBM DS3000, 4000, 6000, 8000 series
• Hitachi USP, AMS

Filers HBA
• NetApp • Emulex
• IBM N Series Filers • QLogic

Fiber switches Tape libraries

Our solutions are fully integrated with BMC Performance Manager
• Brocade Silkworm • Quantum/ADIC
environment, which in turn is integrated with BMC Service Impact Manager
and BMC Event Manager. As a result, you can access both infrastructure • McData • IBM
performance and availability metrics and business impact information in an • Cisco MDS • HP
easy-to–use interface. • StorageTek
 ABOUT MARKETZONE DIRECT
PRODUCTS
Through the BMC MarketZone Direct program,
BMC is able to resell third-party products that
complement and/or augment our own products.
As a MarketZone Direct product, these products
are available under BMC license and support
terms.

BUSINESS RUNS ON I.T.

I.T. RUNS ON BMC SOFTWARE™
Business thrives when IT runs smarter, faster, and stronger.
That’s why the most demanding IT organizations in the
world rely on BMC Software across both distributed and
mainframe environments. Recognized as the leader in
Business Service Management, BMC offers a comprehensive
approach and unified platform that helps IT organizations
cut cost, reduce risk and drive business profit. For the four
fiscal quarters ended September 30, 2008, BMC revenue
was approximately $1.83 billion. Visit www.bmc.com for
more information.

ABOUT SENTRY SOFTWARE™

Sentry Software, a BMC MarketZone Direct and Technology
Alliance Partner, provides monitoring solutions that
expand and enhance the capabilities of BMC Performance
Manager, thus enabling up to 100-percent coverage of
any infrastructure. Sentry Software specializes in single
solutions for multi-platform monitoring of hardware, custom
applications, or any IT component, as well as blackout
windows. Sentry Software products are deployed in diverse
industry sectors around the globe.

LEARN MORE
To learn more about our solutions, please visit :
www.sentrysoftware.com/solutions

Sentry Software products are made exclusively for BMC

Software and are marketed, sold and supported by BMC
Software as “BMC” products. They are listed on the
BMC Software website products page under the BMC
Performance Manager category.
To learn more about BMC Performance Manager for
Hardware, please visit www.bmc.com.
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